Medical personnel are required to constantly handle needles used for various purposes to include intravenous injections or shots. In order to administer the shots, the syringe must be filled with the substance to be injected. The user is required to manipulate the needle to draw the substance typically from a small vial or ampule. The ampule usually has a rubber cork that is pierced by the tip of the needle in order to draw its contents. Often, because of the sterile nature of the procedures, the ampule or vial is held by a nurse or a technician while the physician inserts the needle in the vial/ampule. This process is frequently repeated during a single procedure. Less commonly, the vial/ampule is held in one hand and needle in the other hand of the same person. Because of the difficulty in handling the vial/ampule in both methods and along with the number of times in which medical personnel must administer injections, it is inevitable that medical personnel will receive needle stick injuries. Contaminated needles from patients can and have infected health care providers with potentially lethal infections such as Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS.
Contact of the needle with a person contaminates the needle requiring disposal of the syringe that may have already withdrawn some of the material from the vial/ampule.
There are number of prior art devices that have been developed over time to prevent needle stick injuries. One example of a prior art device includes a hand guard device as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,406. Another type of protective device includes a syringe holder as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,105. Yet another example of a prior art device includes a vial attachment to prevent needles sticks as disclosed in the U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0108319. This publication more particularly discloses a protective disc that attaches to the neck of the vial/ampule. The protective disc has a circular orifice that enables the attachment of the disc to the vial yet allows access to the pierceable membrane/seal of the ampule.
Yet another example of a prior art device to prevent needle stick injuries is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,857. This reference discloses a protective shield that receives a spent needle.
While the prior art may be adequate for its intended purpose, there is still a need for a device to prevent needle stick injuries that is easy to use, relatively inexpensive, easy to manufacture, and can be made sterile for use in an operating room environment. There is yet a further need to provide such a device that not only shields the user's hand, but also enhances the user's ability to hold the vial/ampule of different sizes thereby further preventing potential needle sticks which may occur by the inability to adequately grasp the vial/ampule.